Polish Communist Party (PUWP)

chairman: Workers of the shipyards, Comrade Edward Gierek, First Secretary of the Central Committee, is here as promised in our Szczecin yards. We extend warm greetings to him. Also present for today’s meeting are: the Prime Minister, Comrade Piotr Jaroszewicz, the Secretary of the Central Committee, Comrade Barcikowski, the Vice-Prime Minister Franciszek Kaim, who is already well known to us, the Minister of Defence, Deputy Wojciech Jaruzelski, the first secretary of Szczecin Provincial Committee, Comrade Oblubek, Comrade Szlachcic (Minister of the Interior), and other representatives of the Party leadership, the administration and the unions. I apologize for the inadequacies of tonight’s organization, but we were taken a bit unawares by the timing of the meeting; I’m sorry, and undertake to be better prepared in future . . . (speaks quietly to Gierek—applause)